Mr. Denby to Mr.
Olney.
Legation of the United States,
Peking, November 30,
1896. (Received Jan. 13, 1897.)
No. 2652.]
Sir: In my dispatch No. 2645, of November 24
last, I inclosed a copy of a communication which was sent by me to the
Tsung-li Yamên, embodying a demand for the punishment of the delinquent
Kutien officials
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and also for
the payment of damages to Miss Mabel C. Hartford. I have the honor to
inclose herewith a translation of the Yamên’s answer to my
communication. It will be seen that the Yamên declines to pursue the
matter of punishing the officials any further. It denies, in general,
the statement that no official has been punished.
I await your instructions as to further action.
I have informed the Yamên that the damages awarded to Miss Mabel C.
Hartford can be paid by the Foochow authorities to the vice-consul, W.
C. Hixson, and that a translation of their dispatch has been sent to
you, and that further instructions are awaited by me.
I have informed the vice-consul at Foochow that the money will be paid to
him, and have directed him to receive it and to pay it to Miss Hartford,
taking duplicate receipts and sending one to this legation.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure in No. 2652.]
The Tsung-li Yamên to
Mr. Denby.
Peking, November 29,
1896.
Your Excellency: Upon the 23d instant the
princes and ministers had the honor to receive a communication from
the minister of the United States, stating that you had been
instructed by your Government to bring to the attention of the Yamên
some facts connected with the antiforeign riots which occurred at
Kutien on the 1st day of August, 1895, and to demand that cognizance
be taken of the conduct of the officials with regard to the same,
and that proper and suitable punishments be decreed against them;
that Mr. Consul Hixson’s report on the riots mentioned was not
received until recently; that it is known to the Yamên that the
Government of the United States delegated two gentlemen—the American
consul at Foochow, Mr. Hixson, and Commander Newell, of the United
States Navy—to go to Kutien as commissioners to be present at the
trials of the criminals who were engaged in the riots and to
investigate all the matters connected therewith, and the facts, as
presented by Commander Newell, are submitted to the Yamên, with the
statement that the charges made by him against the officials are all
repeated by Consul Hixson in his official report; that Commander
Newell proceeds to charge certain officials with misconduct, as
stated.
The minister of the United States further states that in connection
with this case he is also instructed by the honorable Secretary of
State to demand damages for Miss Mabel Hartford, an American
citizen, who was injured, and for loss of property she sustained,
etc.
In reply, the princes and ministers have the honor to state that on
the 22d of November, 1895, a memorial from the viceroy at Foochow
was received and presented to His Majesty the Emperor, stating that
the Kutien case had been settled, that twenty and more of the chief
offenders had suffered the death penalty by decapitation, and twenty
more other offenders whose offenses were not of so grave a character
had also been punished—some to banishment to the frontier military
posts and others to imprisonment for life in the jails of various
magistrates.
As to Fang Yu-te, Wang Ju-lin, and Wang Yu-yang, mentioned in
Commander Newell’s report as being guilty of culpable neglect in the
discharge of their duty as local officials, it may be stated that
these men have all been denounced to the Throne and degraded. It can
not be said that of the local authorities not one has been punished.
The
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action taken by China in
this case has certainly been with a view to bringing about a
satisfactory arrangement in a friendly way; no effort has been
spared to act in good earnest.
Futhermore, it is a year since the case was settled, and it is not
convenient now to pursue the matter any further.
It is right that the claim of Miss Hartford, amounting to $1,880
(Mexican money), for injuries and loss of property, should be paid
as claimed.
The princes and ministers beg that the minister of the United States
will inform the Yamên where the money is to be paid, so that
instructions may be sent to the authorities at Foochow to act
accordingly in the matter. In sending this reply the princes and
ministers beg that the minister of the United States will transmit a
copy of this communication to the honorable Secretary of State.
